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A hallmark of the new commander-in-chief's expression of disapproval is what has become known as the Obama Touch -- the pat on the shoulder, the shoulder grab or the tap on the back that all are nonverbal cues that signal displeasure and disapproval, reported Politico.

"[Obama] was castigating him. There's no other way to put it," former FBI special agent Joe Navarro, a specialist in nonverbal communication told Politico. "Biden got it immediately. It looked like a little, subtle touch, but you could immediately see that Vice President Biden was contrite after that."

When the commander-in-chief became irked at a Politico reporter's question during a visit to the White House press room last week he started patting the journo on the shoulder, the site reported.

A second reporter who was given the hand-on-shoulder treatment from Obama during his campaign said he could tell the then-senator was annoyed but the gesture felt "confidential."

The touch "seemed to have a twofold purpose -- to express his annoyance and also to convince you that you were wrong," the writer told Politico.

Obama trotted out the touch again to defuse a potential ugly situation when an aggressive fan seeking a photo rushed up to him during a June campaign stop in Philadelphia. Obama stopped and touched the fan's arm then explained to him he couldn't take a photo.

"That was a way of placating, making him feel that 'I'm here, I'm listening to you,'" behavioral analyst and body language expert Maxine Lucille Fiel told Politico.